Starting this blog I intended it to mostly concern politics but also figured it might cover culture or sports from time to time. So this piece on the film Hook has no overt political dimension. It is simply concerned with the joys of watching Hook as an adult.
In doing so I hope to lend some insight into why Hook is so beloved by my generation. Pretty much everyone I know who grew up in the 90s loves rewatching the movie (most of my friends own the dvd). Why is this? Partly, it is because the Peter Pan story itself is magical. The story continues to be retold, in films, plays, and through movies like Finding Neverland that focus on the author J.M. Barrie. For a story that focuses on childhood and an imaginary land where children never grow up it is hard to imagine a better fit for director than Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg has always had a sense for how children experience the world and the wonders of storytelling. We see this in movies like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial or Jurassic Park (which could have been a much more cynical and R-rated film working from the same source material). And yet Spielberg himself has criticized Hook as did many critics. Not only does the film have a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes but Spielberg said in 2013 "I wanna see Hook again because I so don't like that movie, and I'm hoping someday I'll see it again and perhaps like some of it."
Given these caveats, why is the film so beloved by those who grew up in the 90s? Why does its wikipedia page claim that the film “has gained a strong cult following since its release”? One answer is nostalgia. The second is Robin Williams’ playful, childlike charm as Peter Pan. But also, as an adult, the movie has a double impact, which I think gets to the heart of why its appeal is so enduring.
The double impact is as follows: Peter is first reminded of his lost youth when he, his wife, and their kids visit Grandma Wendy’s house in London. When Peter first approaches the childhood bedroom of Wendy we feel through the haunting music, lighting, wind through the open windows, and wallpaper that being in this room unsettles Peter, reminding him of a long-forgotten, seemingly lost childhood. Second, Peter actually returns to his physical past to rediscover the wonder and magic of childhood in Neverland.
Okay, why is this so powerful? Because for those of us who grew up watching (and loving) Hook, by rewatching it as adults we ourselves travel the same path that Peter does, first being reminded of our childhood through the nostalgia we experience when watching the movie and then second, in a more direct sense re-experiencing the magic of our childhood with Peter as he travels to Neverland. We of course don’t actually go to Neverland, as Peter does, but to watch Peter travel there is to travel back with him to the play and joy of youth, the magic of imagination, and the fear of growing up (all the pirates are adults).
I am suggesting that to rewatch this magical story about childhood is not merely to be reminded of one’s youth but to metaphorically travel back to the child one was when they first watched Hook. This is why I call it a double impact. In so far as this is true for people my age it may explain some of the enduring appeal of the movie. Put simply, in rewatching Hook as adults, people of my generation are doing exactly what adult Peter does in the film—revisiting the magic of our lost youth. When watching Hook we don’t just remember our youth, we feel it and experience it again, just like Peter does.
Or maybe I’m just being sentimental. If so, it is a widespread sentimentality. For when my friends and I get together we don’t watch The Land Before Time or other movies we loved as little kids in the 90s. We specifically and frequently gravitate towards a movie that is about an adult returning to youth. This probably explains some of the potency of Hook and the general staying power of the Peter Pan story.
Just a couple reflections to conclude: The scene where Peter first returns to Neverland and tries to save his kids is quite moving. He climbs the mast on Captain Hook’s ship and vainly reaches out to his children who are hanging in a net, unable to rescue them. Peter has genuinely forgotten everything—his past, his identity as Peter Pan, his ability to fly, the magic of Neverland. In other words, he has forgotten, and thus lost, his childhood. This of course is reflected in how he lives his life in the regular world, obsessed with work to the detriment of his family, especially the fleeting childhood of his children. As Wendy memorably says when Peter’s son Jack describes the nature of his work, “Peter, you’ve become a pirate.” (Just one of many great lines).
Similarly, when Peter has his first meal with the lost boys after a grueling day of training, he can’t remember how to play. Enjoying the lost boys’ meal requires one to imagine the feast. Peter is reminded once again, in stark terms as he sits there hungry, that he has forgotten how to be a child. It is only through truly and unselfconsciously embracing his youth, by trading insults with Rufio and then initiating a food fight, that he is able to recapture that magic. By acting like a child he effectively becomes one again, rediscovering the lost, forever young Peter Pan within him, and thus the amazing but invisible food before him.
Watching the film, for us, is a lower stakes version of Peter’s journey. Neverland is a stand-in for the place or way of being that is childhood. While we can’t go there, for those of us lucky enough to grow up with Hook we can return to childhood in other ways, such as watching this delightful film.